Infantile Hemangiomas Cleared by Combined Therapy With Pulsed Dye Laser and Propranolol

BACKGROUND Oral propranolol is the first-line therapy for infantile hemangioma. Combining it with pulse dye laser (PDL) (595nm-long PDL) could reduce treatment duration and sequelae incidence and severity. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of PDL-propranolol treatment on duration to cure and sequelae. METHODS All consecutive patients with infantile hemangioma who were cured by PDL-propranolol treatment were identified. RESULTS In the 27 cases, average age at treatment start was 4.3 +/- 3.8 months, mean tumor diameter was 11.1 +/- 14.0 cm(2), and tumor-type was most common (72.4% of lesions). The patients received 9.8 +/- 10.5 PDL sessions. After ensuring patients had no physical contraindications, including heart disease, oral propranolol was started at 1 mg/kg/d, increased up to 3 mg/kg/d as a maintenance dose. Mean propranolol treatment duration was 11.1 +/- 4.9 months. Total treatment duration was 15.3 +/- 10.8 months. CONCLUSION Our data in the context of recent literature suggest combining propranolol with PDL may reduce propranolol duration without increasing harms.

Automated summary

The combination of propranolol with PDL may reduce the duration of propranolol treatment without increasing adverse effects, according to our data in the context of recent literature.